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Campaign Medals

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Campaign medals awarded for service in the Regiment

The medals are worn in the sequence shown here.

The Australian Service Medal 1939-45 falls within the Australian System of Honours and Awards. The others are Imperial medals, i.e. awarded under the British system of honours and awards, as Australia did not have its own system in the 1939-45 period.

Further information is available at the Defence Honours & Awards web site. Click on ‘Campaign medals’ then ‘World War II’.

We point out that many individual members of the Regiment received, and wear with pride, medals not listed here. They include those that recognise their service in Crete and Tobruk, and others related to POW experiences. These are not included on this page at present. Instead, the medals and stars depicted here are those awarded to all eligible members of the Regiment within the Imperial and subsequently Australian systems of honours and awards.

Medal

1939-45 Star

Comments

A six–pointed star of yellow copper zinc alloy.

Ribbon: three vertical stripes of dark blue, red and light blue. The dark blue stripe represents the Naval Forces and the Merchant Navy, the red stripe the Armies and the light blue stripe the Air Forces.

Description

A six–pointed star of yellow copper zinc alloy.

Ribbon: three vertical stripes of dark blue, red and light blue. The dark blue stripe represents the Naval Forces and the Merchant Navy, the red stripe the Armies and the light blue stripe the Air Forces.

Africa Star

Round cupro-nickel.

Ribbon: a wide khaki central stripe, flanked by two narrow red stripes, and edge stripes, one of dark blue the other of light blue. The khaki represents the Australian Military Forces, the red represents the Merchant Navy, the dark blue represents the Royal Navy and the light blue represents the Royal Australian Air Force and Civil Air Services.

Army – entry into the operational area on the posted strength of a unit or formation in the area between the Suez Canal and the Straits of Gibraltar between 10 June 1940 and 12 May 1943 or for service in operations in Abyssinia, Somaliland, Eritrea, Malta or Syria.

Pacific Star

A six–pointed star of yellow copper zinc alloy.

Ribbon: central yellow and green stripes that represent the forests and the beaches of the Pacific, flanked dark blue, light blue and red stripes that represent the service of the Naval Forces and Merchant Navy, the Air Forces and the Armies.

Awarded for operational service in the Pacific theatre between 8 December 1941 and 2 September 1945.

Defence Medal

Round cupro-nickel.

Ribbon: orange with green outer stripes, each green stripe having a black pin-stripe running down the centre. The green represents the Islands of the United Kingdom, the orange represents enemy attacks, and the black represents the black outs.

Awarded for six months service in a prescribed non-operational area subject to enemy air attack or closely threatened, in Australia and overseas, or for 12 months service in non-prescribed non-operational areas.

Within Australia the area is the Northern Territory north of 14 degrees 30 minutes south, and the Torres Strait Islands between 3 September 1939 and 2 September 1945.

Overseas service includes the Middle East, east of the Suez Canal (less the period of the Syrian Campaign) or Malaya prior to the Japanese invasion on 8 December 1941.

War Medal 1939-45

Round cupro-nickel.

Ribbon: red – blue – narrow red, white, white – blue – red, representing the colours of the Union Flag (the ‘Union Jack’, the flag of the then British Commonwealth of Nations).

Awarded to members who served full-time in operational or non-operational service between 3 September 1939 and 2 September 1945. The qualifying period is 28 days.

Australian Service Medal 1939-45

Round cupro-nickel.

Ribbon: a wide khaki central stripe, flanked by two narrow red stripes, and edge stripes, one of dark blue the other of light blue. The khaki represents the Australian Military Forces, the red represents the Merchant Navy, the dark blue represents the Royal Navy and the light blue represents the Royal Australian Air Force and Civil Air Services.

Awarded for 30 days full-time or 90 days part-time service at home or overseas in the Australian Armed Forces between 3 September 1939 and 2 September 1945

Instituted in 1949, the first Australian war service medal. Earlier ones were Imperial medals.